Title: Twisted Truths
Author: Rebecca Zanetti
Series: Blood Brothers #3
Plot-driven with somewhat undeveloped characters
I would like to thank Rebecca Zanetti, Forever/Grand Central Publishing/Hachette Book Group, and NetGalley for allowing me to read an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Desperate to find the baby who suddenly became her daughter, Noni Yuka tracks down the man who a year ago left in the dark of night without so much as a word, shattering her heart. If anyone can find her baby, it’s Denver Jones.
Denver left Noni for good reason—he’s being hunted, and he didn’t want her to become prey. But she bursts back into his life, and he’s torn. He doesn’t want her caught in the crosshairs…but he doesn’t want to let her go, either.
Word of caution—this not only wraps up the Blood Brothers trilogy, but it finishes the overarching plot from Sins Brothers as well. The heroes of all seven books are brothers of the heart, and as such are involved in each other’s books. I recommend starting at the beginning with Forgotten Sins, because I think if you do you’ll find the end of this one much, much more satisfying. Twisted Truths is a good book on its own, but it’s obvious this is the end of a much bigger story.
This is a plot-driven narrative. There’s a lot going on. Zanetti was meticulous in her construction of a fast-paced, action-packed plot. Man, does it move. Not a boring moment to be had. I started reading and I did not stop. But unfortunately, the uber-strong plot left the characters, and their romance, somewhat undeveloped. In Zanetti’s defense, it’s really hard to pull off a strong plot as well as well-rounded characters; she chose to focus on the plot, and that’s okay. Honestly, I enjoyed this book A LOT, semi-weak characters notwithstanding.
By somewhat undeveloped, I mean we didn’t dive deep into Denver and Noni’s lives. We really only knew what was relevant to the plot. Their romance was a bit of a cheat because most of it took place off-camera a year ago. We didn’t witness their meet-cute or watch them get to know each other and fall in love. They already knew each other, knew they loved each other, and the plot for their romance was basically them wavering on the decision to get involved again or not. And their love got a bit lost amid all the action and suspense. Despite the lack of “origin story,” if you will, I still found the rekindled intimacy between them satisfying in lieu of a courtship.
I liked Denver quite a bit. Like Noni, I found his hidden sweetness endearing. I loved that he wasn’t a talker; neither am I, so I related. He had a massive guilt complex and he wanted badly to live happily ever after with Noni and Talia, he just didn’t think he’d survive to do so. We knew more about Denver because it was his story; the main threat/antagonist was tied to his past. We were told about his traumatic childhood, and we were told said childhood haunted him as an adult (naturally). But what do we know about the fifteen years between his escape from the boys’ home and the present? He runs a private investigations business with his brothers, and one case took him to Alaska, where he met Noni and fell in love. That’s about it.
I liked Noni (Nah-nee? Noh-nee?), because she was very down-to-earth, and her reactions were realistic. She hadn’t experienced true violence or horror in her life, and she was understandably naive. When faced with extreme danger, the likes of which she’d never before experienced, she didn’t turn into a mary sue warrior goddess or anything. She went into shock. I appreciated that.
BUT her background makes no sense to me. There’s either missing pieces or frank incontinuity. Did her aunts Franny and Verna take in foster kids? Was Noni talking about their home-home or the foster home when she said Sharon passed through multiple times? That would explain how Noni was taken in by Franny, a blood relative, right away after her parents’ deaths and yet spent a significant amount of time with a foster kid. But I don’t know for sure. Everything about Noni’s childhood and Sharon was very vague and not well explained. Ergo, undeveloped.
Zanetti’s writing was very smooth and intelligent, her integration of Noni and Denver’s plots seemless, and she gave her characters strong personalities that inspired sympathy and respect. I just wish I knew more about them. That said, I really, really want to read more of her work. She’s been on my radar for a couple years, but there’s just too few hours in the day, you know? The good news—the audiobooks for Sins Brothers and Blood Brothers are available to download through my library. *pumps fist*
